WI tour of South Africa

[yuppie]

WI trying to bat the 42 overs?

[mikesiva]

Gayle's numerous injuries and operations have added up, and are affecting his mobility, and his ability to last for long innings. After the World Cup, I expect him to retire from ODIs and Test cricket, and focus on T20s. He is 35, after all, so he might as well take the Mike Hussey route.

Then, shanky and CQ will have to find someone else to blame for the West Indies crappy performances!

[Aidan11]

Samuels and Ramdin are doing a decent job but it's still well behind the rate.

[mikesiva]

Samuels and Ramdin are doing a decent job but it's still well behind the rate.

They're batting for their averages...Shiv is not the only batsman to do it.

When the fallout occurs after the World Cup, they want to ensure that they're not cut from the roster.

Samuels out for 50...mission accomplished.

Ramdin out for 40...another disappointing series with the bat.

Carter out for a duck...if he's the future, then God help the West Indies!

[ChrisQ]

I can still see a case for Bravo because of his all round abilities.

But I'm still awaiting a stats-based argument from mike regarding the basis on which Gayle deserves to be in the ODI side. For all the talk of lack of alternatives, Gayle has done worse than pretty much every one of them over the last 2 and a half years. Johnson Charles YES JOHNSON CHARLES averages around 10 more than Gayle during the same period.

Good luck with that. If mike wasn't a guy I would think Gayle must be his boyfriend the way he's so silent on giving stats to show why Gayle should still be in the team. Expect him to come up with some rubbi......

Gayle's numerous injuries and operations have added up, and are affecting his mobility, and his ability to last for long innings. After the World Cup, I expect him to retire from ODIs and Test cricket, and focus on T20s. He is 35, after all, so he might as well take the Mike Hussey route.

Then, shanky and CQ will have to find someone else to blame for the West Indies crappy performances!

And there we go!

Really. "his numerous injuries and operations have added up, and are affecting his mobility, and his ability to last for long innings."

Riiiiight!

Gayle should pay you for that kind of defence.

[ChrisQ]

In all seriousness, IF Gayle's "numerous injuries and operaitons have added up, and are affecting his mobility, and his ability to last for long innings" then:

1. How do you explain cricinfo's twitter feed observation:

ESPNcricinfo @ESPNcricinfo

A golden duck for Chris Gayle. He has only two ODI centuries in more than six years

The guy has been injured so badly for 6 years? Maybe a cricket ball or two licked him on the helmet too many times yes......

2. If he has been so struggling, why has he not indicated to the selectors that he needs more time off to recuperate properly? Since he hasn't had a retainer for so long it isn't like he is obligated....perhaps he's just retarded?

3. Why not bat lower down the order where he would not be expected to bat for so long and to give himself more time off from being on the field after the team has fielded? That's quite a logical thing to do really - if you have been fielding for 40-50 overs and your body is breaking down in the way that mike siva claims, then surely the worst thing to do is to open the batting after a short innings break...better to come in at No. 5 really...

After all it was nearly four years ago that you were defending Gayle staying in the opening slot by claiming that a guy who was only 2 years older than Gayle wouldn't be opening the batting "at his age":

there's no way Nash is going to agree to open the batting at his age,

At his age? You realize Nash is only 2 years older than Gayle right? If Nash is too old, why isn't Gayle? And what about Dilshan? Doesn't he open for Sri Lanka? Isn't he older than Nash?

By that logic Gayle should have stopped opening the batting years ago...but then I suppose logic for some is quite malleable....

4. Why is it then that he can bat fairly well for T20 (averaging around 34 since the 2012/13 season) but is rubbish now at ODI (averaging 17.96 since the 2012/13 season)? Shouldn't those injuries affect his overall cricket, rather than his ODI cricket? Especially since he doesn't bowl anymore but just fields?


Not that I expect answers to any of these questions really. You have a tendency to avoid them and instead try to turn things around instead of actually answering questions that may well be uncomfortable. Oh well, such is life.